Cembrit Gets its Hooks into Croudace!

Cembrit has supplied large quantities of Contessa, a natural Spanish
slate, to a picturesque housing development in Hampshire. These high
quality slates have been installed by Kennet Roofing using hook
fixing, which has achieved time and cost savings on this major new
house building project.

Overton Hill is a development of attractive new homes ranging from
2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom properties and apartments built by Croudace
Homes. Local roofer Kennet Roofing has had a long and happy
association with Contessa and as Richard Gale explains, he had no
hesitation in choosing Cembrit’s flagship Spanish natural slate for
this project:

“We’ve used Contessa slates for many years and we’ve always been
able to rely on them. New housebuilding requires a product that you
can trust and is of consistent quality. Thankfully Contessa has
always passed muster with us. The added bonus for this project -
once we’d got to grips with it - was the hook fixing method: We had
much less wastage and it was much quicker when the pressure was on –
a fairly constant factor on this type of project. It’s been great to
be able to use a new technology that gives great results.”

The use of hook fixing offers a number of advantages for this type
of project: there is as a reduction in breakages and slates fixed
with hooks are subject to less stress as they are not fixed onto the
battens and are easier to replace at a later date as the exposed
part of the hook can be twisted to the right or left, the damaged
slate removed, a replacement slid into place, and the hook twisted
back with no visible signs of repair. Using slate hooks is far
simpler and more time efficient too as effectively, the roofer is
hammering only one slate hook per slate as opposed to two nails with
hooks being an estimated 25-30% faster than nails.

Contessa is a natural Spanish slate of the highest quality, selected
from the finest deposits and produced by some of the most efficient
quarries in Spain. It is available in two colours: blue/black and
grey, in a variety of sizes, and with its textured surface can be
relied on to create an attractive and long lasting roof.

Imported by Cembrit Ltd for over 15 years, Contessa is one of the
UK’s leading specified Spanish slates. Contessa slates will last the
life time of a building if installed correctly and have been widely
used on major projects such as supermarkets, schools, hotels, city
offices and prestige buildings. They can withstand the most severe
weather conditions and are unaffected by sunlight, ultraviolet light
and even acid rain.